A Thousand Words
by I heart Venomous Tentaculas
Summary: Next Gen. Teddy Lupin, James S. Potter II, Albus S. Potter and Lily L. Potter II think about families, and find a surprising amount about their own.


**AN: So, wrock music gives me plot bunnies, apparently. One of probably many Next Generation fics that I have stuck in my head. Enjoy, and please review.**

"How come Kelly has two parents, John has one and I don't have any, Uncle Harry?" Teddy Lupin asks. Harry is stumped, what do you tell a seven year old when he asks that?

"Are you asking me why people have different types of families, Teddy?" is all that Harry can come up with. _Divert the question, divert the question! _he thinks.

"No. I mean why don't I have any parents, did they not like me or something? Was I bad when I was a baby? Is that why they left?" the younger expresses his fears.

"Did you know that I didn't grow up with any parents, either? My parents did love me, like your parents loved you, but they had to leave to protect you, just like my parents, and now they are together in Heaven, watching us." Harry wasn't prepared to talk about the war with Teddy, yet. When he went to Hogwarts, it might be a different story, because there would be people who knew. But now Teddy was in a muggle school, and there weren't any people to tell him about what his parents and godparents did. That could get sticky really quickly.

"Okay," Teddy says with the kind of conviction only a seven year old can produce and starts to walk away.

Just as he gets to the doorway, he turns around. "They did love me, though, right Uncle Harry?"

"Of course they did, Teddy Bear," and he smiles as Teddy leaves to help Ginny in the kitchen.

"Dad, why doesn't Teddy have parents like me and Al, and Lily?" asks James Potter, now eight years old.

"Because Teddy's mom and dad were protecting him, and they ended up dying, just like my parents," Harry replies, ready now that he has had a few years to come up with his answer. He was intending to tell them all about the war when James went to Hogwarts (three years), his three children needed to know, but he could delay for as long as he wanted, Andromeda and Ginny, and Hermione and Ron, were referring to him about what they should tell and what they shouldn't, but he could tell they were getting tired about waiting for the time and soon they might just pull a mutiny. He chuckled under his breath.

"Okay," James says. "Can we go flying?" James had inherited his fathers ability on a broom, Albus... had not. Lily wasn't yet allowed on a broom as she was only three, but Harry was sure that next year she would be getting a broom for her birthday, and if she didn't like it, they could always return it.

* * *

"Let me go ask mum, and then we'll see. It's almost dinner, and next week is your mother's birthday, so I'm cooking dinner tonight. Maybe after supper."

Albus is more quiet about talking about families, instead of it being in the living room as with the other two boys, it was when Harry was tucking him into bed. Albus also asked the hardest questions.

"Dad, why are you so insistent about tucking us into bed?" Albus asked as Harry fussed about with the blankets.

"I guess because I wasn't ever tucked into bed."

Albus' eyes go wide, "You were _never_ tucked into bed?"  
"No, my aunt and uncle didn't believe in it," for him, he added silently in his head.

"Why did you live with your aunt and uncle then? Where were your parents?" Albus has what Harry calls his questioning look on. A mix of concentration and confusion.

"My parents died when I was really little, and my aunt and uncle took care of me," and made sure that I knew that I really was a pain, and they were wonderful people to take me in. Whenever Harry thought of his mother's sister and her whale of a husband he was very cynical. Dudley and his wife, a squib called Andrea, weren't included, as they got on semi-formally.

"Like Teddy's." It wasn't a question, and Harry wondered where he had gotten his information.

"What's your scar from then, Dad?" Harry is startled out of his thoughts and it must show, as the next thing Al asks is whether he is alright, or not.

* * *

"I'm fine, Al. And my scar is something that I will tell you when you're older. Okay?"

* * *

Lily doesn't ask about families, and Harry wonders if she's talked to her mother or if the boys filled her in.

A year before Lily and Hugo are going to Hogwarts, Harry finally tells the kids what has been going on. Teddy and Victoire sit in, as part of the family. Teddy knows that this is not something that his uncle wants to do, because it is really hard to look at him the same way, after what happens. James is going on forth year, and that's the year that they start talking about the First and Second war in History, Albus is going into second and he isn't sure he likes what others, like Nott, have been mentioning last year.

"Since Lily and Hugo are going to Hogwarts next year, and James is going to learn more about the First and Second Wars in History this year, We all thought it was prudent to tell you all what happened without any other person telling you something that could be lies. Especially with you in Slytherin, Al," Harry starts when they are all settled. It would really change the way that the children viewed their family. Even with Hermione being the Minister, they still got a lot more stares than Fudge ever did.

"About fifty years ago, when my parents and Teddy's dad were in school, there was this really bad wizard, who called himself Lord Voldemort. His real name was Tom Riddle, and he was a half-blood, like me. He didn't want anyone who didn't have magical parents to be able to go to Hogwarts so he started killing people who were like Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Dudley." Harry continued on, talking about how he survived the Killing curse, how he came to live with his aunt and uncle. He resists mentioning a cupboard, because he knows that Hermione will freak out if she knew, and sometimes a guy has to have his own secrets.

And then he talks about his first year, learning about being the Boy-Who-Lived with the troll, and the Philosopher's Stone, and the Mirror of Erised. He talks about second year, with Dobby, and his letters, and the flying car, and then the Chamber of Secrets issue when he finally got to school, and how Dobby saved him before he is interrupted.

"So that's why you visit that grave every time you go to Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's," is Lily's addition to the story.

"Yes, but there is more to Dobby's story than just this." And Harry keeps going on, about his third year, and with Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Everyone looks at Teddy when Harry's defense professor was mentioned and at James when Sirius Black is mentioned. When they find out Sirius is innocent, and Harry's godfather, there are cheers, when he is sent away there are groans and when Hermione and her time turner are mentioned, everyone looks at her and smiles at her rule breaking.

His fourth year, and the Tri-wizard Tournament is mentioned and they go through the tasks from Harry's point of view. When he mentions the portkey and the graveyard where Cedric is killed, everyone realizes that this is not an adventure story anymore, and this is a dangerous life, that Harry could have died just as easily Cedric did. Might have. Then his fifth year, and Umbridge and the DA, and the Department of Mysteries, and they are all amazed at what everyone did, and Sirius' death, where James and Lily realize why their names are their names.

And then his sixth year, with Draco Malfoy, and Severus Snape, and Dumbledore's death. And Albus wonders why he has his middle name, but understands his first name, finally. And finally his, Hermione and Ron's camping trip, their fights with the Horcruxes, the escape from Malfoy Manor. Lily cries when Dobby dies, and he swears that he sees James wipe at his eyes. And then the battles, Aberforth Dumbledore, Snape's last words, and Harry dying. Hermione and Ginny look displeased when he mentions his walk in the forest, and dying. When he meets Dumbledore's soul, the children all look intrigued. And then the final battle, and Molly Weasley killing Bellatrix Lestrange (to which there are cheers) and Harry finally killing Voldemort.

When it is all over Harry looks exhausted and tries to answer all the questions he can. And there are a lot, Hermione and Ginny, yell at him, while Ron looks on sympathetic. And Teddy, James, Rose, Hugo, Lily, and Victoire all are very interested in the details.

After everyone has left, James, Lily and Ginny to make supper, Al walks up to his dad, where he is resting in his chair, and curls up in his lap like he used to when he was very little, and he cries. Soothing the boy sobbing into his chest Harry realizes that Albus is perhaps the only one of the children who listened who understands, to some extent what Harry did, and why.

And Harry is okay with that.


End file.
